BYU football: Cougars blast Bruins

PROVO — BYU's Max Hall had to think for a minute when he was asked to remember each of his touchdown passes against UCLA.

He couldn't quite do it, which was understandable.

Hall tied a school record with seven touchdown passes and the 18th-ranked Cougars handed UCLA its worst loss in nearly 80 years, overwhelming the Bruins 59-0 Saturday.

"It's nice to have the recognition, but I've got a very good football team all around me to help me out," said Hall, who tied the record shared by Marc Wilson and Jim McMahon before heading to the sideline midway through the third quarter.

There wasn't much left for him to do after stunning UCLA with four touchdowns in the first 5:18 of the second quarter while leading BYU to a 42-0 halftime lead.

BYU (3-0) forced four turnovers and blocked a field goal in Rick Neuheisel's second game coaching his alma mater. Instead of glorious 2-0 start, the Bruins (1-1) had one of their worst loss since 1929, when they were shut out by Southern California (76-0) and Stanford (57-0).

"We've got to get our team back. They've been challenged. They understand that," Neuheisel said. "We just have to find out who is health, who can play and find out how to play 60 minutes with the guys we have left."

It was BYU's most lopsided victory since shutting out New Mexico 65-0 in 1988 and the timing was ideal for the Cougars, who outgained UCLA 521-239 and came up with a demonstrative victory one week after edging Washington 28-27 on a blocked extra point attempt. The Cougars felt a little maligned when much more was made of a celebration penalty on Washington after the touchdown with 2 seconds remaining than BYU coming up with a play to win it.

There was nothing to dispute this time.

"We were just tired of it. We were ready to come out and make a statement today and shut people up," said BYU's Jan Jorgensen, who forced one of UCLA's turnovers with a sack in the second quarter.

Hall finished 27-for-35 for 271 yards with one interception. He had six TDs in the first half and tied the school record on a 6-yard pass to Harvey Unga with 7:43 left in the third quarter.

Unga, Dennis Pitta and Austin Collie each caught two of touchdown passes and Michael Reed had the other before Hall was pulled midway through the third quarter with BYU up 49-0.